I have collected many
motivational stories, comments and sayings over the many years that I have coached. Some
have been provided by my players, some have come from various magazines and
others by just listening. There are never enough words of wisdom and often the
source of these inspirational moments have come as a dear price to those
from who they originate and as noted, not always from sports. Please enjoy and if you have any to add, please e-mail
me at wawryko@direct.ca

About
Quitting:

Probably
the greatest example of persistence is Abraham Lincoln.If you want to learn about somebody who didn’t quit, look no further.

Born
into poverty, Lincoln was faced with defeat throughout his life.He lost eight elections, twice failed in business and suffered a nervous
breakdown.

He
could have quit many times - but he didn’t and because he didn’t quit, he
became one of the greatest presidents in the history of the United States.

Lincoln
was a champion and he never gave up.Here is a sketch of Lincoln’s life on the road to the White House.

1816His family was forced out of their home.He had to work to support them.

1818His mother died.

1831Failed in business.

1832Ran for state legislature and lost.

1832Also lost his job - wanted to go to law school but couldn’t get in.

1833Borrowed some money from a friend to begin a business and by the end of
the year he was bankrupt.
He spent the next 17 years of
his life paying off this debt.

1834Ran for state legislature again and won.

1835Was engaged to be married, sweetheart died and heart was broken.

1836Had a total nervous breakdown and was in bed for six months.

1838Sought to become speaker of the state legislature and was defeated.

1840Sought to become elector and was defeated.

1843Ran for Congress and lost.

1846Ran for Congress again and this time he won.Went to Washington and did a good job.

1848Ran for re-election to Congress and lost.

1849Sought the job of land officer in his home state and was rejected.

1854Ran for Senate of the United States and lost.

1856Sought the Vice-Presidential nomination at his party’s national
convention - got less than 100 votes.

1858Ran for U.S. Senate again and again he lost.

1860Elected President of the United
States.

Don’t
Be Afraid To Fail.

You’ve
failed many times, although you may not remember.

You
fell down the first time you tried to walk.

You
almost drowned the first time you tried to swim, didn’t you.

Did
you hit the ball the first time you swung a bat?

Heavy
hitters, the ones who hit the most home runs, also strike out a lot.

R.H.Macy
failed seven times before his store in New York caught on.

English
novelist John Creasey got 753 rejection slips before he published 564 books.

Babe
Ruth struck out 1,330 times, but he also hit 714 home runs.

Don’t
worry about failure.

Worry
about the chances you miss when you don’t even try.

Above
published in the Wall Street Journal by United Technologies Corp.

Consider
this:

-
After Fred Astaire’s first screen test, the memo from the testing director of
MGM, dated 1933, said, “Can’t act! Slightly bald! Can dance a little!”Astaire kept that memo over the fireplace in his Beverly Hills home.

-
Beethoven handled the violin awkwardly and preferred playing his own
compositions instead of improving his technique.His teacher called him hopeless as a composer.

-
Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper editor for lack of ideas.Walt Disney also went bankrupt several times before hebuilt Disneyland.

-
Albert Einstein did not speak until he was four years old and didn’t read
until he was seven.His teacher
described him as “mentally slow, unsociable and adrift forever in his foolish
dreams.”He was expelled and was
refused admittance to the Zurich Polytechnic School.

-
Babe Ruth, considered by sports historians to be the greatest athlete of all
time and famous for setting the home run record, also holds the record for
strikeouts.

About
Challenges: The Entrepreneur

"Money was tight when I was a child living in the tiny town of
Viking, Alberta. As early as I can remember, I was taught that if I wanted
something, I had to work for it.

At
the age of nine, I had my heart set on a shiny-red three-speed bicycle I had
seen in the front window of the town's hardware store. It cost $20. I knew that
I could never afford it. I was too young to get a job, and I had little or no
savings.

I
couldn't get that bike out of my mind. Then I had an idea. I had often watched
the trucks delivering grain from the surrounding farms to the grain elevator on
the edge of town. Invariably, there would be small piles of spilled grain on the
ground after the trucks left.

One
morning I popped a couple of old burlap sacks into my wooden wagon and pulled it
to the elevator. My best friend and I spent the morning scooping up the
spilled grain and managed to fill both sacks. Somehow we manhandled the 22 1/2
kilogram bags into my wagon, which we then pulled to the other side of town.
There a woman who raised chickens paid us a dollar for each bag.

A
dollar!

Everyone
was happy: My friend and I made money; the woman paid us less than the grain
would cost her from a store; and the elevator operator, who approved of our
efforts, had a clean loading dock. By the end of that year, I had made enough
money to buy my three-speed bicycle.

Becoming
an entrepreneur taught me that there are opportunities all around us, and if we
work hard we can profit from them. It's a lesson that has served me well
my entire life.

When
I was playing hockey for the Edmonton Oilers, I was offered the chance to become
both a player and a coach. I knew it was hard work - the hours were longer and
the responsibility was heavy doing two jobs at once - but I jumped at it.

When
I took over in 1977, we had not yet earned ourselves a place in the World Hockey
Association playoffs. But by year's end we'd won enough games to qualify.

I've
seen cases in which two hockey players have the same level of talent but one
makes it to the professional leagues and the other doesn't. The difference? The
one who makes it sees his opportunity, hustles, trains harder and gets noticed.
It's that simple."

After
playing ten years in the NHL, Glen Sather coached and managed the Edmonton
Oilers for more than 20 years, winning 5 Stanley Cups. He was named president
and general manager of the New York Rangers on June 1, 2000.

What
goes around comes around:

His name was Fleming, and he was a poor Scottish farmer. One day, while trying to make a
living for his family, he heard a cry for help coming from a nearby bog. He dropped his tools
and ran to the bog. There, mired to his waist in black muck, was a terrified boy, screaming
and struggling to free himself. Farmer Fleming saved the lad from what could have been a
slow and terrifying death.

The next day, a fancy carriage pulled up to the Scotsman's sparse surroundings. an elegantly
dressed nobleman stepped out and introduced himself as the father of the boy Farmer
Fleming had saved. I want to repay you, said the nobleman. You saved my son's life.
No, I can't accept payment for what I did, the Scottish farmer replied, waving off the offer.

At that moment, the farmer's own son came to the door of the family hovel.

Is that your son?, the nobleman asked.
Yes, replied the farmer proudly.
I'll make you a deal. Let me take him and give him a good education. If the lad is anything
like has father, he'll grow to a man you can be proud of.

And that he did. In time, Farmer Fleming's son graduated from St. Mary's Hospital Medical
School in London, and went on to become known throughout the world as the noted Sir
Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of penicillin.

Years afterward, the nobleman's son was stricken with pneumonia. What saved him?
Penicillin.

Someone once said: What goes around comes around. Work like you don't need the money.
Love like you've never been hurt. Dance like nobody's watching. Play like
there is no tomorrow!

Anoldfavourite.

A
Master's Touch

THE TOUCH OF THE MASTER’S HAND

“Twas
battered and scarred, and the auctioneer

Thought
it scarcely worth his while

To
waste much time on the old violin,

But
held it up with a smile.

“What
am I bidden, good folks,” he cried,

“Who’ll
start the bidding for me?”

“A
dollar, a dollar,” then, two! Only two?

“Two
dollars, and who’ll make it three?

“Three
dollars, once; three dollars, twice;

Going
for three....” But no,

From
the room, far back, a grey-haired man

Came
forward and picked up the bow;

Then,
wiping the dust from the old violin,

And
tightening the loose strings,

He
played a melody pure and sweet

As a
caroling angel sings.

The
music ceased, and the auctioneer,

With
a voice that was quiet and low,

Said:
“What an I bid for the old violin?”

And
he held it up with the bow.

“A
thousand dollars, and who’ll make it two?

Two
thousand! And who’ll make it three?

Three
thousand, once; three thousand, twice;

And
going and gone,” said he.

The
people cheered, but some of them cried,

“We
do not quite understand

What
changed its worth? Swift came the reply:

“The
touch of a master’s hand.”

And
many a man with life out of tune,

And
battered and scarred with sin,

Is
auctioned cheap to the thoughtless crowd,

Much
like the old violin.

A
“mess of potage,” a glass of wine;

A
game - and he travels on.

He
is “going” once, and “going” twice,

He’s
“going” and almost “gone.”
But the Master comes and the foolish crowd

Never
can quite understand

The
worth of a soul and the change that’s wrought

By
the touch of the Master’s hand.

Motivational
sayings:

The
basic difference between an ordinary man and a warrior is that a warrior takes
everything as a challenge, while an ordinary man takes everything either as a
blessing or a curse.

Don Juan

Obstacles are those
frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal.

Henry Ford

People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt
those who are doing it.

Experience is not what happens to a man.It is what a man does with what happens to him.

Aldous
Huxley

I
am only one.But still, I am one.I cannot do everything, but still I can do something.And because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something
that I can do.

Edward
Everett Hale

It
is not the critic who counts, nor the man who points out how the strong man
stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is
marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes
short again and again because there is no effort without error and shortcomings,
who knows the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at best
knows in the end the high achievement of triumph and who at worst, if he fails
while daring greatly, knows his place shall never be with those timid and cold
souls who know neither victory nor defeat.

Theodore Roosevelt

Nothing in the world
can take the place of perseverance.Talent
will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.Genius will not; un-rewarded genius is almost a proverb.Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.

Calvin
Coolidge

Character
cannot be developed in ease and quiet.Only
through experiences of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision
cleared, ambition inspired and success achieved.

Helen
Keller

Keep
away from people who try to belittle your ambitions.Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you,
too, can become great.

Mark
Twain

If
you treat an individual....as if he were what he ought to be and could be, he
will become what he ought to be and could be.

GOETHE

The
greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives
by altering their attitudes of mind.

William
James.

The
heart of a fool is in his mouth, but the mouth of a wise man is in his heart.

Benjamin
Franklin

Life
is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood.

Hellen
Keller

LIFE
IS A PLAY,IT’S NOT ITS LENGTH
BUT ITS PERFORMANCE THAT COUNTS

SENECA

Life
consists not in holding good cards but in playing those you hold well.

Josh
Billings

Victory
belongs to the most persevering.

NAPOLEON

Pick
battles big enough to matter,small enough to win.

JONATHAN
KOZOL

Your
hands, your mind are like any other set of tools, they don’t do anything by
themselves --

you
have to use them.

Thinking
is the hardest work there is,which
is the probable reason why so few engage in it.

HENRYFORD

“Winning starts with beginning”.

“People
are not lazy.They simply have
impotent goals - that is, goals that do not inspire them.”

Anthony
Robbins

“Nothing
has power over me other than that which I give it through my conscious
thoughts.”

Anthony
Robbins

“Don’t
find a fault, find a remedy.”

HENRY
FORD

“Our
doubts are traitors,

And
make us lose the good we oft might win,

By
fearing to attempt.”

William
Shakespeare

“They
can because they think they can.”

VIRGIL

“He
who knows much about others may be learned, but he who understands himself is
more intelligent.He who controls
others may be powerful, but he who has mastered himself is mightier still.”

LAO-TSU

And
a few extra for thought:

“The most important single ingredient to success in athletics or life is discipline. The definition of the word is as follows: 1. Do what has to be done: 2. When it has to be done: 3. As well as it can be done: and 4. Do it that way all the time.”
“There’s no such thing as luck. Luck occurs when preparation meets opportunity.”
“The difference between the possible and the impossible lies in a man’s determination.”
“Some men may be bigger, faster, or stronger, but no one man has a corner on dreams, desire, or ambition.”
“You don’t ask for respect. You earn it.”

"Things
won are done"

"The
one who complains about the way the ball bounces probably dropped it"

"Its
not the size of the dog in the fight, its the size of the fight in the dog"

Following
contributions/collections by Ashley Bradford, many thanks.

"Let
up for a second and that is where you will finish" - author unknown

"Be
committed to your dreams. Rather than to your fears" - author unknown

"The
vision of a champion is someone bent over dripping in sweat when no one is
watching" - Anson Dorance

"Talent
is great but overrated. Determination, which stems from a belief in one's
ability to succeed, is usually what separated the winners from the losers"
- author unknown

"Dreams
are challenging, but challenges are what we live for" - Travis White

"Champions
are people who carry on from where others let go" - Author Unknown

"No
feat facing us is as important as our attitude towards it....for that determines
our success or failure"

"A
successful team is a group of many hands but of one mind"

"Sometimes
that we stare so long at the door that is closing that we see to late the one
that is open" - Alexander Graham Bell.

"Rather
the pain of discipline, than the pain of regret" - Bob Andrews

"Stopping
at third base adds no more runs than striking out"

"It
is quite possible to work without results but never will there be results
without work"

"The
only job where you start on top, is digging a hole"

"He
who is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else" - Benjamin
Franklin

"Tough
times don't last but tough people do" A. C. Green

"I
hated every minute of training but I said don't quit. Suffer now and live the
rest of your life a champion" - Mohammed Ali

"Pain
is temporary, accomplishment is forever"

"The
dictionary is the only place that success come before work"

"All
that we are is the result of what we have thought" - Buddha

"We
are what we repeatedly do. Excellence is therefore not an act, but a habit"

"Do
just once what others say you can't do and they will never pay attention to your
limitations again" - James R. Cook

"The
only difference between champ and chump is 'U'!"

"Obstacles
are challenges for winners, and excuses for losers: - M.E. Kerr